After the Rain
by LavenderAndTime
Summary: MAJOR spoilers for "Death in Heaven." After the rain, they lied to each other, all at once. The Doctor and Clara lied to sustain their damaged façades. Danny Pink lied to conceal his guilt. And the Mistress lied to get her friend back. Four short epilogues, one for each character. (4/4: The Mistress)
1. One: The Doctor

**For "Death in Heaven," I've decided to write a sort of epilogue for the four main characters. This is the first one, from the Doctor's point of view. The next three (in order) will be Clara, Danny, and finally, the Mistress. Hope you enjoy! I know I've had such fun writing fics circulating around series 8. :)**

* * *

_After the Rain  
__One: __The Doctor_

Sure, he lied to her. When had he done any different? Their entire relationship was built on lies and secrets.

_I found Gallifrey. I'm going home._

Out of all the lies he'd spun, he regrets this one the most. Before, he lied to sustain his damaged façade, and now he lies to help sustain hers. They masked their faces and lied to each other, because if they can believe for just a moment they aren't both broken inside, maybe _then_ they can manage to part ways.

Danny hadn't returned. This was obvious. Her eyes inflated to the size of small tangerines simply at the mention of his name. Try as she will, Clara hadn't yet perfected the art of lying, and he hopes she never does.

He didn't find Gallifrey; of course he didn't. He only found stars at the Mistress's coordinates. When he outstretched his hand to open the door he closed his eyes, and allowed brief flickers of memory to flash before him: an orange sky, illuminated by the light of the two suns, silver-leaved forests stretching so far into the horizon it seemed they touched the stars, the lazy summer days he spent exploring the world outside, before he was inducted into the Academy... He remembered himself as a young child, running on the edge of a brook, hand-in-hand with his best friend.

Kochei...

The Master.

The Mistress.

His _friend_.

And this _friend_ was as much as a liar as he was. It seemed he built his home around liars. There was no Gallifrey anymore, not in this universe. Her final gift was utter deception, and he had accepted the bait thoughtlessly.

The Doctor diverted his attention to the console of his TARDIS, a welcome- yet grim- distraction from his tormented thoughts. Snapped levers and severed wires littered her console. Guilt panged in his hearts as he remembered who had done this to her. He wanted to forget. He wanted to pretend this day was an unwelcome dream, but whenever he tried to catch a few winks, _her_ face stared back.

_"I want my friend back," _she said.

Well. So did he... desperately. Just not like _this_.


	2. Two: Clara Oswald

_After the Rain  
__Two: __Clara Oswald_

Clara turns her back on his ship. She forces herself to walk away when she hears the engines groan behind her, trying not to let her emotion control her. In this small instant, she closes the door on her life with the Doctor.

Her cheeks become wet. She doesn't know why she's crying. Everything should be happy, right? She'll walk home to her flat, open the door, and run into Danny's arms like nothing was ever amiss. The Doctor will take off in his TARDIS, return to the newly-found Gallifrey, and begin assisting his people as they rebuild. Everything's fine. She'll have a happy ending, because doctors take broken people and make them better.

Her vision becomes blurry, overrun with tears. These are tears of joy, of course. Why would she be upset? She stifles a sob, and continues to walk, away from Queen Street, away from _everything_.

When Clara realizes that people walking on the street alongside of her are staring, she ducks into a shop. She manages to ask for the ladies' room, and rushes down the hall in a mess of tears, following the shop woman's directions. When she finds it, and confirms that she's alone, she drops her facade. She lets herself cry, however hideous and unladylike and not-in-control it might sound. That was the truth, after all. She's not in control, not anymore.

Danny. Oh, Danny... She loved him, she knows she did. She loved him so much that thinking about the extent of her love now makes her lungs tight and her heart swell. She feels like she's drowning. And while she wasn't very good at it, her love _was_ honest.

But none of that matters anymore, because Danny Pink- _Rupert_ Pink- is gone forever, just like everyone else she's ever truly loved. Her mum, her Gramps, the Doctor...

But the Doctor-

Deep down, she knows she's being too melodramatic. Her goofy, bow-tied Doctor may be gone, but _the_ Doctor is still here, and she still loves him. It's not a romantic love, (_dear lord, it's not_), but it's still love, and it still matters.

Clara doubts he'll be coming back any time soon. To him, she shut the door on that part of her life. It's probably for the better. She doesn't think she could bear to sustain her lies about Danny anymore.

Clara screwed up, big time. She's practically a monster. She blatantly lied to both of them, and damaged two of the best relationships she had because she was scared pursuing one would negate the other. She spun her webs, and now she's stuck to deal with the cruel aftermath.


	3. Three: Danny Pink

_Three  
__Danny Pink_

She is a teacher. He was a soldier.

She's stunningly beautiful... and because of this, he was painfully awkward.

She's a terrible liar. But he's worse. He's a murderer.

And now, Danny Pink was dead. The world in front of him was empty and wordless, with only an infinite series of regrets and saddened memories to keep him company...

_...He never apologized to the family of the innocent boy he killed while on military tour.__ He wished he chose to retain contact with his birth parents. __He never fully opened up and told Clara the truth about his guilt, or why he changed his name from Rupert. Speaking of Clara, he always wondered if he acted too controlling around her, but could never build up the courage to ask. He was a coward..._

...And while he knew he saved the world from the possibility of destruction today, no amount of victory could strip away this lingering guilt.

Clara _did_ inhibit his emotions, didn't she? How could he feel the way he did when the emotional sectors of his brain were supposedly not operating? He presumed he'd never know for sure- but perhaps love trumped reason.

Danny's essence continued floating through this shapeless realm, drifting away until he almost seemed to disappear. While he technically didn't possess a body anymore, he experienced a chilly tingle that ran up and down his legs. Parts of his mind grew cold and sluggish the further he drifted.

_I truly did love you, Clara, _he thought frantically, fearing he was breaking apart. I _love you. I love you. I love you. _

_I... I love you..._

* * *

Danny opened his eyes, awaited by an empty office room. Hushed weeping from nearby met his ears. He groaned, rubbing at his sore temple.

Wait a minute. Hands. He had hands. How could he _possibly_ have hands, and arms, and- a body? His heart caught in his throat as he lifted his trembling hands to eye level.

"But- how is this possible?" he questioned himself unbelievingly. "I was dead!"

He shot into a sitting position, regaining more and more control over his body as time passed. A circular window with thick blinds was inset in the wall in front of him. A desk, at his left. This set up appeared familiar- too familiar. While Danny couldn't even begin to surmise how, here he was, back in the Nethersphere.

No one seemed to be in the room with him. Guessing by the crying he heard however, there _were_ people outside in the halls. He quickly connected the dots. These people's minds once inhabited the Cyberman army the Marry Poppins-esque woman conjured up, and they must have automatically re-uploaded here when they self destructed and foiled her plan. He wondered if the ones who were weeping rejected the emotion wipe.

Empowered by the knowledge that the enemy was not here, Danny stood to his feet and began poking around. An iPad rested on the desk's surface. He tapped on it and woke it up, grateful there weren't any passcodes. The screen displayed a single switch, set to 'off.' Above this, it read: 'Nethersphere mainframe power.'

His fingers hovered over the display. If he turned this thing on again, it would continue harvesting recently deceased minds. But if he didn't... what would happen to the billions of people already here? What if by switching the Nethersphere back on again he could find a way to help? To help the young boy he killed- to help all of them?

After considering his options, Danny Pink powered the supercomputer back online. He knew his duty- his penance. He'd watch over of all the hurting and lonely minds here, and comfort new arrivals. Under the right care, he believed the Nethersphere could be a good place, a new beginning.

And he'd always keep a watchful eye for her.

He hoped Clara lived fully for years to come. He hoped she continued to travel with the Doctor, exploring the universe and helping the helpless, like she always did. And maybe- a few decades down the road- they would be together again, reunited in another form of life.

* * *

AN- I apologize for the extremely long delay. I lost my writing mojo for a bit- so I'm very happy I found it again! With any luck, the Mistress's chapter will be out within a couple of days. Thank you for all the encouraging comments on the last two, everyone! :)


	4. Four: The Mistress

_Four  
__The Mistress_

The very air inside her TARDIS seemed to spark as she teleported inside and collapsed to her knees in exhaustion. Her fingers fumbled with her spiked bracelet. A red light blinked at its base- depleted energy pack again. Fuming, she chucked it halfway across the console room.

The bracelet hit the metal floor with a loud, echoing clatter. With her mind devoid of the drumbeat ever since the completion of the Time Lords' prophesy, this TARDIS was too quiet. _Deathly_ quiet.

The Mistress hissed a curse as she recovered from the sudden upheaval of the vile device. Gallifreyan or not, all transmats stung like hell. It only took a nanosecond to activate, charged by the Cyberman's high-efficiency laser.

By now, she almost wished it did, if only to see the Doctor's reaction. The indignant Time Lady silently stood to her feet, the sheer anger building inside enough to make her core shake. Would this incarnation scream, she wondered- if she were to die in his arms again? She hoped so. She desperately wanted to hear him scream.

And she _knew_ he wanted that army. That power. The company of a Time Lady... He was riding on the edge, _so close_ to accepting...

But of course he couldn't! Because he's _not a bad man-_ he's got _morals _to uphold_, _and he_ doesn't need an army, _because he's got_ them. _His precious, precious companions. Sweet little innocent Clara, a girl so perfect and important he's fully willing to murder his childhood friend to save her soul.

The Mistress stared holes into the console's mechanics, betrayed and jealous. When she escaped from Gallifrey after the confrontation with the Doctor's Tenth incarnation, she wondered if they might be able to rekindle what little of a relationship they had left. Perhaps they might have knocked about the universe for a bit and caused some havoc, just like they did in their childhood, but his mind was closed. He couldn't see the obvious truth- that they were one and the same.

The Doctor was unable to cure her, and she could never cure him.

No one would ever win this game.


End file.
